Furnace conveyer disk



F. A. FAHRENWALD FURNACE CONVEYER DsK Filed Dec.

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Oct. 28, 1930. F. A. FAHRENWALD FURNACE CONVEYER DSK Filed Deo. 17, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

@f W MM *W serena-a oet. 2s, 193e is within the disk itself no l@wing to the fact that to crack and ATENT vEJR'IN'K FAHRENWALROF CHICAGG, ILLINOIS remmen convnynn'nrsn i Application led. December 17, 1928. Serial No. 326,5!3.

This invention relates to heat treating furnaces and is illustrated herein as embodied in a conveyer for use in'carrying through the furnace objects and products to be treat! ed.I A conveyer of the same general type as that which forms the subject matter of this' invention is disclosed and claimed in United States LettersPatent No. 1,539,833, granted to me on theQnd day of June, 1925, and another is set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 1,623,469, granted to me on the 5th day of April, 1927.

In the first of the aforedescribed patents there'is disclosed a conveyer disk comprising an outer rim, a plurality inwardly from the rim and segmental members formed on the inner ends of the spokes. the segmental mem# bers are formed separately from one another,

the conyeyer allows a certain amount of contraction Vand expansion, which occurs owing to the use to which the conveyer is put. lin the second patent,'there is disclosed a hollow tubular metal body having conveyer disks mounted on it, and in this construction there provision for cooling.

While both of the foregoing constructions,

have proved and are still proving eminently satisfactory as commercial and engineering projects, it has been found that after long continued usage of conveyers constructed in' accordance with the disclosures of the prior patents that the rims of the conveyer'crack and break thereby rendering such conveyor disks inoperative and subject to replacemei'rt.4 Replacing the disks is a costly operation and one which is to be avoided ii possible, andit is in view ofthis tendency oit the prior rims break upon occasion, and to overcome the necessity of replacing them, that the present invention has been devised. Accordingly, an important object of the present invention consists in the provision of an improved conveyer disk constructed and arranged freely to permit expansionand contraction of the rims of the disks without setting up any severe internal strains or stresses.

A feature of the invention which is con: ducive to the accomplishment oftherecited `well-known to ofspokes extending` object consists in connecting the rim portions of the disks" to the hub portions by means of spokes which are constructed in such a `man ner that they will not oppose expansion and contraction oi the rim portions. As illustrated herein this characteristic ofthe invention is carried out by osetting the spokes in the direction of the axes of the disks'. It is to be recognized, of course, that'it is old and provide wheels, etc., the @o spokes of which are convoluted inthe plane of the wheel, but such a forni of constructionl fails'utterly to obtainv the merits' 'of the present invention in which the convolutions are at right angles to the'plane of the wheel or @5' dsk as contrasted with being within such p ane.

A further feature of the invention consists inthe provision .of a conveyer`disk of the type herein described'that is simple indef 7o' sign' and construction and compact in its ar rangement. lo the end of carrying out this feature, the disk is provided with a hub por! tion oi approximately the same width as the outer rim portion of the disk and thesetwo 7o members lare assembled in such a manner thatI the convolute spokes extend from one endv of the rim diagonally to the opposite end of the hub, whereby they are disposed between the two planes that deine the opposite' sides of 80 the rime Another feature-oi the invention, which lends itselitv tothe accomplishment of the recited object,`consists in the provision of, a furnace conveyor disk that is substantially of uniform thickness throughout. By' means of such a provision, uniform cooling'l` and heating of the disk is permitted to take place and likewise free expansion and con` traction `without setting up severe internal 9o stresses and strains at points where there would otherwisev be a concentration of the metal of the disk.

Still other objects and features of. the in vention will become apparent from a reading e5 interiorof a heat treating furnace equipped with conveyer'di'sks 5 l ico Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the conveyer disksshown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a still further enlarged view of a single conveyer of the type shown in Figure 1; and

Fi ure 4 is a view in section taken along the hne 4-4 of Figure 3. I

Inasmuch as heat treating furnaces and 'the purposes and objects thereof are old and well-known, `no discussion will be devoted to such topics, nor will the construction of such a furnace be described other than to mention that, as shown in Figure 1, the furnace comprises an outer casing 10 of refractory material having mounted transversely thereof a series -of rotatable axles 12 whic carr the conveyer disks or elements 16.

T e conveyer disks 16 are secured to the axles 12 in a satisfactory manner in order that they will rotate with the axles, and, as illustrated herein, the connection between the two parts comprises, as shown in Figure 3, a radially extending pin 18 that is carried by the axle 12. The disk 16 has its hub portion provided with a transverse groove 20 that is ar e enou h to receive the pin 18, and intereiately etween the opposite ends of the groove 20 there is formed a communicating circumferential slot 22 that is likewise of sufficient size to accommodate the pin 18.

In operation,'the disk is slipped over the axle and moved endwise thereon until it meets the pin 18 whereupon the slot 20 is brought into registry with the pin and the disk is pushed over the pin until the latter registers with the circumferential slot 22 at which instant the diskis rotated relatively to the axle to seat the pin 18 firmly within the slot 22. The slot extends in a direction opposite to that of the rotation of the disks whereby there is no tendency or opportunity for the disks to become loose during operation of the furnace.

As shown in Figure 2, the axles or shafts 12 are surrounded, between the conveycr disks 16, with'segmental sleeve portions 14 which serve both to space and to strengthen the conveyor disks.

Turnin now to the .conveyer disks themselves an more particularly to the desi n and constructionthereof, it will be seen an inspection of Figure 4 that each disk comprisesa flat outer load en agingl rim 24, an inner hub portion 26, whic, by the way, is formed with the groove 20 and slot 22 therein, and connecting portions, that may be termed spokes, 28 extending between the hub and the rim to connect the two parts together. The spokes 28,7it will be observed extend from one end or side of the rim portion 24 inwardly toward the hub and are thence offset in the direction of the central axis of the axle 12 to extend diagonally to the opposite end or side of the hub 26. Thus, the spokes or connecting portions are convoluted in the direction `in which extends the central axis of the support or shaft upon which the conveyer disk is mounted.

While the conveyer disks have been described as being rovided with spokes it is to be understood t at the disk in one aspect comprises an outer rim and a dished-out body portion that is cut away in order to provide the spokes. In view of this fact, the spokes are not to be considered as limitations in the invention for it is realized that the connecting portion of the disks might well be made Without openings and hence without spokes and still be susceptible of carrying out the major objects and features of the invention.

It will be observed that the disk illustrated and disclosed herein is of substantially uniform thickness throughout and is formed of a continuous swee of metal. The lines of junction between t 1e body portion of the disk Iand the hub and rim portions thereof, are

rounded to increase the strength of the conveyer and to decrease the tendency to Warp or check upon sudden expansion or contraction. Furthermore it will be observed that the dished out bod portion extends from one end (as contraste with the side) of the rim to the opposite end (again as contrasted with the side) of the hub portion, which permits the uniform thickness to be maintained throughout and again tends to decrease warpage and breakage from sudden temperature fluctuations. Thus it will also be appreciated that the entire disk is formed of one continuous sinuous section of approximatel uniform diameter throughout.

Although the invention has been described herein with particular reference to conveyer disks for use in connection with heat treating furnaces, it is to be recognized and clearly understood that the invention may be used in connection with other similar and analogous apparatus, and that certain changes in design and construction of the disks may be made by the exercise of mechanical skill without in the least departing from the scope. of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Lef ters Patent, is

1. A 1 arnace conveyer disk comprising, in combit lation, a rim, a hub, and a connecting portion extending from one end of the rim ldiaigonal4 y inward to the opposite end of the 2. conveyer comprisin in combination' a cylmdrical support, an a plurality of spaced conveyer disks mounted upon the support, each of said disks com rising a rim, anda connecting portion exten 'n from one end of the rim diagonally in the irection of the cylindrical support.

3. A furnace conveyer comprising, in combination, an elongated support having a central axis, a rim mounted to 'surround the ,su port, and means connecting the rim to t e y support, said means'being arranged to extend inwardly from one en of the rim toward the support and thence being osetin the direction of the central axis of the support.

4. A furnace conveyer comprising, in combination, a hub, a rim,and a dished-out body portion connecting the hub to the rim, said body portion being cut away to provide a plurality lof spokes extending from the hub.

5. A conveyer disk comprising, in combination, a hub, a rim, and a body portion '0in'- ing the hub to the rim', said hub, rim, and o dy portion all being of a substantially uniform thickness.

6. A conveyer disk comprising in combination a hub, a rim and a body portion, joining the hub to the rim, said hub, rim and body portion being formed from a single sweep of metal of a substantially uniform thickness throughout.

7 A furnace conveyer disk having a. hub member, a web member, and a rim member all formed of one continuous, sinuous section of A approximately uniform thickness throughout. f

8. A furnace conveyer disk having a hub member, a rim member, and aweb member extending from one end of the hub to the opposite end of the rim, said hub, rim, and web members being formed of one continuous, sinuous section of metal.

l 9. A furnace conveyor disk comprisin' a hub por ion, a rim portion, and a connecting portion uniting said hub and rim portions; said connecting portion being inclined to the axis of the disk in radial planes embracing said axis, and being of substantially uniform thickness with said hub and rim portions.

10. A furnace conveyer disk comprising n spaced hub and rim portions, and a connecting portion uniting said hub and rimportions; said connecting portion being inclined to the axis of the disk in radial planes embracing said axis and being substantially uniform thickness with said hub and rim portions, and merging with said hub and rim portions at axially presented margins thereof.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, this 11th day of December, 1928. l

' FRANK A. FENWALD. 

